Glace Bay MD makes case to keep municipal position

NORTH SYDNEY — Mike Ryan is fighting for his position as a doctor on contract to Cape Breton Regional Municipality’s human resources department.

However, he said, his main goal is to save the municipality money and to improve employee health and wellness.

In May, human resources director Angus Fleming recommended the municipality hire a wellness co-ordinator “to provide a greater level of administrative support with less reliance on the CBRM doctor.”

Ryan told council Wednesday he can save up to $2 million in employee disability costs, but a wellness co-ordinator can’t do the same thing.

The Glace Bay doctor said a wellness co-ordinator will end up costing the municipality more in lost productivity and lawsuits.

“I can find $1 (million) to $2 million (in savings) over the next couple of years,” Ryan told council during a regular meeting held at the North Sydney Cultural and Heritage Centre.

“That’s jobs that we can protect within this organization.”

He presented charts and statistics from Nova Scotia Power and other companies he has done work for in an attempt to show how he reduced disability costs and lowered insurance premiums.

He said only a medical professional can deal with employees’ confidential health issues. He warned that the municipality is open to liability.

“I’m hearing at water fountains things I shouldn’t be hearing,” Ryan told council. “As a result of that, we will have major lawsuits.”

The municipality also has many other “major” problems to deal with, he said. For example, Ryan said, the human resources department does not have statistics on the number of lost days per employee.

At the meeting, Ryan provided council members with envelopes containing what he later said was “confidential medical information” demonstrating how he saved the municipality more than $200,000 in the last couple of months.

In an issue paper to council in May, Fleming wrote that the municipality has come a long way since amalgamation in 1995 when it inherited a large number of human resources issues, including the escalating costs of employee disability and workers compensation.

Ryan was hired on contract shortly after that to intervene with employees injured on the job. Then an occupational health and safety employee was hired to encourage awareness and accident prevention, and a recently hired diversity officer has developed a workplace accommodation policy, Fleming wrote.

Several councillors expressed shock and surprise after Ryan’s presentation.

Mayor Cecil Clarke said acting chief administrative officer Marie Walsh will be asked to find an independent expert to come up with a recommendation.

“What we have, I believe, is a professional disagreement of opinion on the best approach, and both approaches have the interest of the municipality at heart — that is how to save money and provide a good service.